Akademie der Künste Library

After 1945, the library of the former Prussian Akademie der Künste comprised nearly 500 volumes. With the acquisition of Heinrich Mann’s literary estate in 1950, the East Berlin Akademie der Künste began the process of expanding its library holdings. In the early 1960s, when the West Berlin Akademie acquired the private library of writer and botanist Reinhold Muschler, it also established a new foundation for its library collection. Today, these bequest libraries still form the core of the modern Akademie der Künste Library with holdings now totalling around 650,000 volumes.

As the Academy’s art and literature archives grew, so too did the library. The personal papers of artists, writers and scholars also often included private libraries, which were then integrated into the Akademie der Künste Library holdings. These additions are also supplemented by contemporary specialist literature or materials acquired from antiquarian booksellers.

The Akademie der Künste Library is a specialist arts library serving the interested audience. Some parts of the library holdings are for reference only.

Orders can be placed in the electronic library catalog OPAC. Retrieval times are at 10 am, 1 pm and 3 pm. Library media ordered before 1 pm will be provided on the same opening day, library media ordered after 1 pm will be provided on the following opening day.

Please note that some of our materials are held in an external storage. For these library media the staging times are extended.

Books with loan status "Lesesaal" in the OPAC cannot be borrowed.